


The Last of the Samarium

by karfishylicious



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Space, Chanyeol is a softie, M/M, M/M/M, More tags to be added, OT12 - Freeform, Yixing is an alien, lowkey based on Valerian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-02-14 16:22:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13011570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karfishylicious/pseuds/karfishylicious
Summary: Major Wu and Sargent Park are a part of Ulpha's army, a hub planet for all creatures and aliens alike. After years of training, Chanyeol finally gets to go on his first in-field mission with Kris, a dangerous planet of thieves and criminals named Pandora in the Andromeda Galaxy. An artifact had been stolen from Ulpha's archives, but was found again on this planet, and General Leeteuk ordered Chanyeol and Kris to retrieve it. Little do they know, someone else is looking for this artifact as well. The last of his race, searching for the last remnant of his homeworld. With his help, (and a little bit of persuasion from Chanyeol), the three take off in search of the truth, meeting interesting characters and unlikely allies who help them along. Will the trio survive the chase, or will the fight be truly worth it in the end?





	1. Off To Pandora

Kris awakes with a start, a shrill sound slicing through his dreamless sleep and pulling him from his bunk to check his tablet. The sound wasn’t a base-wide alert, and judging by the cycle counter on the wall beside his bunk it was far earlier than his own alarm. After a brief period of searching for the source of the noise, he pulls his pager from underneath his bunk, it's bright blue holoscreen flashing at him with a notice from the General himself. Figuring if it was from General Leeteuk, and not his commanding officer it was exponentially more important that he get ready fast, so he rushed to turn on his light and pull on his teal uniform. Jogging across the residential quarters to the control room didn’t take too long and soon he was met face to face with General Park Leeteuk, Major General Lee Donghae, and his childhood best friend and training partner Sargent Park Chanyeol. As he moved to stand next to Chanyeol, offering a barely noticeable smile to the younger, Kris salutes the two generals and stands at attention.

“Major Kris Wu, reporting for duty sir.”

“At ease, soldier.” Leeteuk orders, allowing the two men to stand normally as he relayed the details of their calling.

“As of the last couple rotations, we have received information that a previously stolen artifact from our stores on Eyris has been located in Sector-B of Andromeda, on a planet known as Pandora. It’s a planet of rogues, thieves, and criminals. Illegal trading happens on a rotational basis, and that's not nearly the worst of the worst that happens there. Major General Donghae and I have selected you two to go undercover and retrieve this artifact, and return it to Soluna for proper transport back to its original home on Eyris”

Kris and Chanyeol share a look, and the other's eyes are wide and bright with excitement. This would be Chanyeol’s first mission in the field, with only Kris at his side. It seemed enticing and yet full of dangers neither of them could even think of.

Kris turned away and smiled at the men in front of them. “It would be an honor, General.”

“Very well. I will send notice to Major Kim that you will need his assistance preparing for the mission, and Sargents Oh and Kim will requisition you an appropriate ship for your travels so you won’t be out of place on Pandora. Off you go, soldiers.” General Leeteuk sends them off with a wave, letting the two men exit the room to being their preparations. As they exit the room, Chanyeol drops his professional exterior and smiles brightly at Kris.

“Can you believe it, Kris? My first field mission! I’ve been waiting for this moment for years!”

Kris laughs and pats the younger on the back. “I know, Yeol. We graduated in the same class, remember?”

Chanyeol pouts. “I know, but you’ve been on so many more missions than I have! I love the story of you and Minseok having to fly out to Lyxon and you two running into that angry Won-”

“That’s because I’m one of the best pilots in this place, Yeol. You’re the engineer, which is why they need you here on Soluna so you can keep the rest of us alive and breathing.”

Chanyeol smiles sheepishly and nods. “Fair point. I wonder why they needed me though? Is the artifact a machine?”

“Guess we’ll find out soon enough when we reach Pandora.”

The pair reach their rooms and part ways, gathering essentials for the trip. After many missions and years of training, Kris has learned to pack light. In only a few minutes, he’s standing outside Chanyeol’s door, pack on his shoulder as he waits for the other. He’s humming an old Terran tune when two young Drarrim turn the corner, talking to each other animatedly. The taller one looks up and notices Kris, baring his sharp teeth in some sort of smile as he drags the smaller along.

“Sehun! Jongin! How are you two?”

“We’re great! Though, a little Qrour’ult told me you and Park were headed out in a few cycles?” Jongin winks, though since he doesn’t technically have eyelids, it’s just his eye subtly twitching. After a year of knowing the two, Kris has come to recognize their different quirks.

“Jaehyun needs to shut his mouth, but yeah. General called us up himself and gave us assignments to Pandora to recover some stolen artifact from Eyris.”

“Sounds like fun! Just be careful, alright?” Sehun says, feather-like antennae curling in concern. “Pandora is where the worst of the worst hang out in Andromeda. Since this is Park’s first mission, make sure to keep him in check, Wu. Don’t want him catching the eye of some pig-headed Kogsne and ending up on the next ship to Neostea in a collar.”

Just as Kris was about to reply, Chanyeol’s door slid open and he walked out, pack considerably larger than Kris’s own.

“Hey, Sehun! Hey Jongin! What’s up?” He interjects cheerfully, giving the Drarrim a small wave.

“Just telling Wu here to keep an eye on you, Park. Don’t go wandering off, ‘kay?” Sehun jokes, flicking the taller on the forehead.

“Hey! I’m not stupid, Sehun. I’ll keep close.” Chanyeol whines, batting Sehun’s hand away and rubbing his forehead.

“We’re not saying you’re stupid, just that it’s your first mission and you’re bound to make mistakes. We can’t lose our main engineer, Liu wouldn’t be too keen on that.” Jongin says, tone consoling.

The tinny sound of the intercom buzzed through the hallway, interrupting the boy’s conversation to announce that Major Kim is requesting Major Wu and Sargent Park to their weapons hold.

“Well, you guys should head over there. We’ll work on getting you a ship fit for a hellhole like Pandora.” Sehun says, patting Kris on the shoulder before saluting mockingly. Kris rolls his eyes but salutes back, watching the pair until they’re out of sight before turning to Chanyeol.

“Pack the essentials?”

“Sure did!” Chanyeol affirmed, head nodding vigorously.

“ _ Just  _ the essentials?” Kris asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well… I may have packed a  _ couple _ extra things…” The younger conceded, rubbing his arm in embarrassment.

“Put them back or leave them with Minseok. We’re just supposed to be in and out, Yeol. It’s gonna take us about two weeks to get there, a day or two to find the artifact and two weeks back. There's no guarantee that it won’t be stolen either, so no personal stuff. Got it?” 

Chanyeol nods, eyes turned to the floor. Kris sighs and rubs his hair affectionately.

“It’s your first mission and you’re excited. I get it. Just trust me, okay? Follow my lead and everything will go just as planned!

This perks the other up a small bit, so he turns away and returns to his room to repack.

Left in silence once again. Though, Soluna is never truly silent. The deep thrum of the artificial gravity system, mixed with the high pitched whistle of the air vents surrounds him, making the ship seem almost alive. Through all the years Kris has lived and worked on Soluna, he's gotten so used to the hum he can’t sleep in silence. Silence is a bad omen on a ship like this. No noise, no air, no gravity, no life support. Silence can be deafening. 

Kris is shaken out of his thoughts by Chanyeol’s door opening once more, flame red hair bouncing up and down as the younger tests out his lighter pack.

“All ready, Kris! Let’s go down and see Minseok!”

“Let’s go!”

They walk side by side without speaking, but the silence isn’t uncomfortable. Kris is sure the other is simply too strung up with excitement to talk, and Kris was never one to be a conversation starter anyways. 

Outside of the weapons hold, Major Kim Minseok was waiting for the pair, arms crossed and eyes ice cold. Minseok was never a warm person, coming from the ice planet Pioria. Skin a light blue and hair almost always draped in icicles. Despite his frosty exterior though, Minseok was a good friend, and a good soldier. One hell of a shot too, if you asked Kris.

“So boys, General says you’re headed to Pandora. Can’t say I envy you, Chanyeol.” Minseok teased, smirking at Chanyeol’s nervous expression. “You’re gonna need some heavy stuff, but not too flashy. Lucky for you I got just the thing.”

The two follow Minseok into the hold, which is filled wall to wall with weapons of all shapes and sizes. Chanyeol stares in awe at the room, but Kris tugs him along to keep him moving. They stop at a table where two identical pistols lie, and Minseok picks one up.

“This bad boy is a C-140 Atheron tech pistol.  It’s like me, small but with a wicked bite.” Minseok winks before continuing. “Concealed very easily, yet when in combat it can shoot a hole straight through two Eldans, and I’m sure you know how fat those fuckers are. Should be good enough protection on Pandora. Just. Don’t. Lose it.” Minseok shoots an icy stare at Chanyeol, freezing the red-haired man in place. Kris chuckles and pats his shoulder. 

“It’s fine, Yeol. Minseok is just joking, though I would recommend not losing the gun because without it, you’re dead.”

This doesn’t seem to comfort him, but Kris brushes it off. Minseok hands them the pistols and they quickly holster them. They go through some other equipment, like appropriate clothing and comms to keep in contact with each other and Soluna.  It’s half a cycle before they’re finished, and Minseok sends them off to Sehun and Jongin in the hangar with a wave and a thinly veiled threat that if they lost the guns, his foot would have a meeting with their asses. 

Thoroughly encouraged, Chanyeol and Kris walk down to the hangar, and meet the two Drarrim once more, though their clothes and faces are currently covered in grease and engine oil.

“One Pandora worthy ship up and operating, Major!” the two yell, standing at attention and saluting Kris. 

It looks like a piece of junk. The outside is rusted and dented, the rockets have definitely seen better days, and the windows are all cloudy. Kris voices his concerns about the state of the ship, but Sehun and Jongin are quick to defend it.

“It’s mostly cosmetic, Wu. If you land on Pandora with a shiny, fancy spaceship, odds are you’re gonna be stuck there without a ship not even 5 minutes after you land. If you have a ship that looks old and beat up, who would want to steal that? It’s not worth anything! Don’t worry, the inside is fine and you two won’t be cramped at all.”

Chanyeol is all too excited to board and get moving, so Kris thanks the two Drarrim profusely, nabs the keys and opens it up, letting Chanyeol run up the ramp before heading up himself. At the top, Kris waves one last time at Jongin and Sehun and closes the door behind him. He can hear Chanyeol’s lumbering footsteps throughout the ship, and he smiles. This is going to be one hell of an adventure.


	2. Unexpected Company

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's been so long, i'm terrible at updating and ive been busy with school. please enjoy this chapter and the cliffhanger at the end!

After a cycle or two after the pair took off, Chanyeol flops down into the co-pilot seat next to Kris. He’s still in his uniform from base, but his jacket is unbuttoned, revealing the tight undershirt below it. Kris’s eyes flick away from the view ahead to the view beside him, but only for a moment. Even though there is autopilot, Kris prefers to trust his own skills when he can spare the time. Especially as they’re leaving the galaxy, since there’s a fair amount of rocks and asteroids out here. In intergalactic space, where they’ll be spending the majority of their two weeks, it’s mostly empty so Kris can relax. Chanyeol is definitely not helping his focus either.

“So…” Chanyeol starts, curious eyes drifting around the cabin. “Is it usually this boring getting there?”

Kris lets out a small laugh and nods. “You want it to be boring. Don’t want trouble before you even reach your destination. Don’t worry though, in a rotation or two we’ll reach Amerath Prime and we’ll stop on the way to pick up some supplies. It’ll be our last stop before we exit this galaxy, so I might turn a blind eye if you buy a game or two for our tablet.”

The younger’s eyes sparkle at that, and he smiles brightly. “Okay! Sounds good!”

“While we’re on our way, maybe you should read up on the memos, or read about Pandora. Get a general idea of what we should expect. Maybe the mission files say what we should be looking out for, since General Leeteuk didn’t tell us.” Kris offers, scanning over the dash routinely.

“Whatever you say, Cap’n” Chanyeol winks and stands back up, walking out of the cabin and closing the door behind him.

The ride is relatively uneventful, much to Kris’s luck (and Chanyeol’s chagrin). While Kris spends most of his time holed up in the cockpit, carefully maneuvering around stray asteroids, Chanyeol wanders about the ship, reading about the mission and Pandora. Every half-rotation Chanyeol pops back in with food and some new information.

“So, I think I may have figured out what we’re supposed to be looking for.” Chanyeol mentioned, absently chewing on a protein bar as he stared out the window, gazing at the sparse stars that populated the rim of the galaxy.

Kris hummed in acknowledgement but said nothing, allowing the other to continue.

“Report said nothing too much on the artifact, except that it was some sort of teardrop shaped crystal filled with a glowing purple liquid, but I did some asking around and turns out Amber knows someone who worked on Eyris when it was stolen. So I asked her last rotation to ask about it and turns out it’s from this planet called Lustriuria. Apparently it was destroyed by mining and this is the only artifact left from this planet.”

Kris raises an eyebrow. “What was being mined there?”

Chanyeol shrugs. “Hell if I know. All Amber said is that it was from Lustriuria and it’s the last of its kind, which makes it extremely rare. No wonder base wants it back, who knows whats in there or what it can do. Obviously, if someone is trying to sell it on Pandora it’s dangerous.”

Nodding his head, Kris scans the screens in front of him again.

“We’re almost to Amerath. Get cleaned up, we’ll land in about ten periods.”

Chanyeol gets up and leaves the cockpit, humming an old Terran song.

 

Down on the planet, the hub is bustling with activity. Aliens of all shapes and sizes are walking about, some behind vendor stalls, selling everything from trinkets to questionable food items. Chanyeol is a bit overwhelmed by it all, so he grasps for Kris, catching his hand in his own. Chanyeol’s eyes widen and he shoots a glance at Kris who has a confused look on his face, so he quickly retracts his hand. They make their way through the crowd, stopping at vendors and window shopping before Kris finds a store to get food supplies. Kris taps Chanyeol's shoulder and motions him to follow, before making his way through the crowd. The younger tries to follow, but he accidentally bumps into a short, rocky looking alien. He stops to apologize but the alien is already yelling at him angrily.

“s̷̖̏͆̊̑n̶̞̮̦͆̆̌̎̑ä̶͉̞̯́̇̾k̸̦͗̈́̈͂ ̸̰͊̀͝͝m̵̲͐̋̽͌͝ḁ̶̬͊k̶͇͎͕̭̓̾̋f̷̮̰̫̓͂͒ḋ̶̖̝͇̏̈́͜͠ ̶̙̮͗̏̌k̴̗̄h̶̟̹̰̮̼̋ș̴̡͎̝͒e̶͇̭̔̾j̷̢̝̮̞̽̃̑͝ͅ ̸̼͕̌̋̕a̸̮̯̍k̶̯̐̎̐d̷̨͚̯͉͐͊͌͛͠ͅj̴̦͕̝̎̒̉d̵͈̀͝f̵̠̭̪̐̅̆͐̐ḩ̷̹̈̌͐̀̊-”

It takes a moment for Chanyeol to realize his translator is turned off, so he hurriedly presses the comm in his ear, and the alien stops speaking gibberish (at least to Chanyeol).

“-tch where you’re going,  _ Groswen!  _ It’s hard enough being short without Terrans like you bumping into me! So clumsy!”

“Sorry, I was following someone, and I didn’t see you!” Chanyeol apologized, face hot.

“That’s what they all say. Just be sure not to step on someone else next time!” The alien stomps off, soon lost in the sea of legs and feet. 

He looks up once again, searching above the people before he realizes he’s lost Kris. He panics, but remembers the store Kris pointed to so he heads in that direction. Peeking into a dusty window, he finds his partner and quickly darts inside, sliding up behind him and pretending he was there all along.

“Get lost in the crowd?” Kris teases lowly, a small smile spreading on his face.

Chanyeol pouts and his cheeks flush. “No, I just accidentally bumped into a Vordeer and got told off. You know how short they are! It’s hard to see them in a crowd like this.”

Kris nods but says nothing, walking around the store and grabbing a couple weeks worth of food for their ship. Chanyeol simply follows Kris aimlessly, staring at different products from far away planets, trying to decipher what their foreign package hides. The trip goes rather quickly and soon Kris and Chanyeol are walking out and back to their ship through the dense crowds.

 

After their one stop to Amerath Prime, it was straight on to Pandora. It was still boring, with Chanyeol spending a majority of his time in his cabin, tinkering with small projects he brought with him or browsing through the Core on his tablet. Since they were now in intergalactic space, there weren’t as many hazards, so Kris put the ship on auto pilot often and sat in the kitchen or Chanyeol’s cabin with the other, playing a few games on the tablet or just sharing stories of his many adventures as one of the most revered pilots on Soluna. Kris loved watching Chanyeol’s face light up at particularly exciting parts. 

It was during one of the times that Kris put the ship on autopilot when a blast sounded through the ship and shook the two soldiers awake. Kris shot up abruptly, grabbing his blaster from the side table and ran to the cockpit, only to find a monsterous trafficker ship in front of them, guns at the ready and aimed at them. Kris swore loudly and jumped into the pilot’s seat, pulling up their shields and powering up their torpedoes. It’s rare, but traffickers do linger in intergalactic space, waiting for transports or cargo ships to make their way into their territory so they can strike, and kidnap the crew, sending them off to who knows where. Kris was not going to let that happen to him and Chanyeol. As he was busy trying to figure out the other ships next move, Chanyeol appeared at his side, sliding into the co-pilot’s seat and looking at Kris nervously.

“Kris what is that? I thought you said it would be quiet out here!”

He growled and stared at the slowly climbing torpedo charge meter, as if glaring at it would make it climb faster. “I said it should be. Theres no guarantee. Traffickers can strike anywhere, anytime. We just had to be unlucky enough to be caught on its radar. Go and see if you can find the spot where they hit us first and see if there’s any damage. Our shields can’t handle too many hits from them, so we have to be ready to jump out of here after we get a hit on them. Got it, Park?”

Kris never called Chanyeol ‘Park’ unless he was super serious, so Chanyeol nodded quickly and ran off, checking the ships diagnostics to see if he can find the hit. Kris went back to the panel in front of him, turning off all non-essential power to charge the shields and the torpedo as fast as they possibly can. Out of the corner of his eye, Kris saw the trafficker’s ship powering up for another hit. Shit.

“BRACE FOR IMPACT!” Kris yelled, hoping the comm on the other side of the room would broadcast it to the rest of the ship so Chanyeol would be safe. The blast hit more directly this time, hitting the nose of the ship and causing it to shake violently. Looking down, he saw the ship’s shields were at 60%. Two more hits, and they were sitting ducks. The torpedo was almost ready, but Kris knew it wouldn’t do much damage if not hit in a critical spot. Problem is, Kris doesn’t know where that might be. He scanned the perimeter of the ship, trying to find some weakness in the hull, or some exposed engine fragments. 

Suddenly, the door to the cockpit opened and Chanyeol ran through, eyes wide and panicked as he sat back down.

“Found the break in the hull and fixed it but… Kris, you may want to look on the radar.”

Raising a cautious eyebrow, Kris pulled up the radar and found that there was another ship headed this way, and it was  _ much  _ bigger than the trafficker ship.

“It’s almost in range. What do you think it is, Kris?”

He huffs and returns his attention to the trafficker. “Doesn’t matter right now. We’ll deal with it when we can but right now I need you to find a weak point on the other ship. We only have one torpedo and we can only take two more hits. We have to at least cripple them so they don’t follow us back into warp.”

Chanyeol nods, and zooms in on the ship on a smaller screen.

“Well… if we don’t want them to follow us, we need to either disable their engine or their drive. The warp drive is normally at the back of the ship near the exhaust, but it’s inside and protected by thick walls, like ours. Our only other choice is the engines, and these types of ships need external engine parts so the ship doesn’t overheat. If we can land a shot riiiight,” Chanyeol points to a small protrusion near the bottom of the ship that glows a bright orange, “here, then it will cripple the engine and cause it to overheat. They’ll be too busy trying to get it fixed so their ship doesn’t blow to follow us back into warp.”

Kris looks at Chanyeol in wonder, his jaw threatening to fall the floor. He knew all that from a cursory glance? 

“Uh, Kris? The torpedo light is green.”

That snapped Kris out of his reverie and he looked to the panel and sure enough, the torpedo was fully charged. He smirked and started to aim the gun at the small glowing orange engine fragment, and locked it in place.

“Okay, we have to have our shields down for us to fire, so we have to be quick okay? Shields down, shoot, and then we punch it.”

Chanyeol nods dutifully and hovers his hand over the shield button, looking at Kris for his command. The entire ship seemed to silence as Kris held his hand up and counted down from three.

“NOW!”

Chanyeol slammed his hand down on the button, lowering the shields as Kris shot the torpedo. They both held their breath as it sailed through space, quickly getting closer and closer to its target. They both let out a sigh of relief as it hit its mark, causing a giant explosion on the side of the ship. Kris leaned down to look at the panel to finally warp away from the danger when Chanyeol yelled out, panicked.

“KRIS WATCH OUT!”

He looked up just in time to see the ship exploding, the fire spreading quicker than expected. They didn’t have any time to raise the shields again as the shockwave from the final explosion reached them and hit their ship. The ship tilted and a panel came loose, smoking and sparking, and hit Kris in the face.

 


End file.
